Concorde’s final week in the air. It’s a crime that she’s being retired without anything to replace her.
This should not be the end. this should be the end of the beginning
Unfortunately all the visionaries have been replaced by accountants
[:(]
I second that motion, hopefully the days of Supersonic travel are not over just put on hold for the moment.
Phantoms rule the skies!!!
I think that the replacement should be an airliner that takes you into orbit. I think it certainly could be done.
And with Boeing’s trans-sonic on the shelf it looks like it will be a while indeed before something else comes along …
I’m not an accountant but you need to have the aircraft marketed before it comes off the drawing board in order to be able to afford it, and if people won’t line up to buy, because they figure not enough will ride, never mind all the other issues of the day, then where are you? The Concorde would not have flown at all had it not been for Government support and national pride.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m just trying to be realistic, and I hope a replacement happens in my lifetime, but even Douglas sold the DC-3 before he bashed much tin. The good news is they are going to museums and not the scrap heap.
Bruce
It’s sad to think that such a remarkable and ground breaking aircraft will never fly again. World economics have much to do with the viability of a particular aircraft type, and the exclusivity (ticket price) of the Concorde always meant that an exceedingly small number of the world’s population would ever be in a position to purchase a ride - unlike the Boeing/Airbus/McDonnel-Douglas products.
Still, it’s sad to see them go.
Cheers
LeeTree
(Sigh…) It was the first plane I ever flew in, courtesy of a competition on the radio. Sat by a man who paid $$$ to get his seat on this special flight from Paris CDG to Liège-Bierset (Belgium). It took all of 20 minutes, without going supersonic. Champagne was a must (I still have the (empty) bottle displayed at home. Was worth every minute of the 3-hour long coach trip from Liège to Paris!
Sad to see Concorde go… Such a sexy plane too…
Sure is going to be quiet around here.
I work 3 miles from Heathrow and have had a grandstand view of Concord taking off every morning for the last 7 years.
You didn’t have to see, you could always hear it, even in a double glazed, air conditioned noisy office building!
I can remember being held on the Heathrow perimeter road on several occasions while Concord was wheeled from hanger to run way.
You never cease to be amazed by it.
Karl
Grew up next to Filton in Bristol in the 1970s and lived under the Heathrow approach in the 90s, so I also have much affection for this type.
A great testament to Anglo/French manufacturing capabilities of the 60s and 70s - sadly no more!
I understand that BA intend to keep one flying for airshows, so maybe all is not lost!
I still think Richard Branson could have made them commercially viable!
Cheers,
Rob M.
Sounds like most of you got to see and hear the Concorde pretty regularly, consider yourselves lucky. The most I have seen of this great bird was to see it on the ramp at JFK, and that was most impressive. I would have loved to see/hear her fly.
Hopefully something as good or better will come along.
My dad is a Capt. with Continental airlines, out of Newark. I was lucky enough to be sitting in the cockpit for a landing one time. The aircraft a head of us was the concorde when it diverted from JFK to EWR. I fell in love with the concorde when I experienced this.
I’ve seen the Concord a few times when I was in Paris & London never had a ride in them but they are impressive piece of equipment for their time, to bad the industry never allowed them to evolve into something more grand then a 3 hr outragouisly expensive flight to & from the U.S to Europe if the price would have come down then I think the Concord & SST would have been the mod of travel also I think the 9/11/01Attack kind of put a hurt into airtravel big time and people rather drive or stay on the ground then fly after that, but I’ve been to Afghanistan & Iraq since then on a 22 1/2 hour flights to & from those locations, I wished the Military would have invested into something like that for their troops for fast mobilization of the Reserve forces, matter of fact I think I might just contact my Congressperson and give them an Idea for the retired Concords, do you think they’ll look good being painted AMC Grey?
I saw them take off from Schiphol, Amsterdam twice when I were a lad… Oh the noise! The ground shook with a vengeance when the graceful bird heaved itself into the sky… Such a shame, and they looked soooo good in the new colours…
A sad week indeed, Concorde was our Space shuttle, if you like.
So let Virgin Buy them, If they can’t make them viable then no-one can at least give this aircraft another go.
Scott
I wonder why he is not trying to get the French Concorde??? I’m sure that must have crossed his mind… Anyone knows why it’s not happening???
I think he tried but the French wouldn’t play ball and after the crash, he probably cooled on the idea since it appeared that they had skimped on maintenance.
BA have acted like spoiled kids; their refusal to sell the Concorde fleet to him is almost certainly due to their humiliation at his hands in the courts.
For as long as air travel is that expensive, I expect nothing more than what is the current situation today (and in the case of Concord, even worse). The main problem is that people have stoped dreaming…